Why IT Won't Power Down PCs 576
snydeq writes "Internal politics and poor leadership on sustainable IT strategies are among the top reasons preventing organizations from practicing proper PC power management — to the tune of $2.8 billion wasted per year powering unused PCs. According to a recent survey, 42 percent of IT shops do not manage PC energy consumption simply because no one in the organization has been made responsible for doing so — this despite greater awareness of IT power-saving myths, and PC power myths in particular. Worse, 22 percent of IT admins surveyed said that savings from PC power management 'flow to another department's budget.' In other words, resources spent by IT vs. the permanent energy crisis appear to result in little payback for IT."
Re:I've seen this first hand (Score:5, Funny)
Hah, I have a similar story. We have a big fancy website, and the regional CEO, in an effort to drive traffic told IT to set a policy that forced everyone's home page to be our website.
So every time anyone opens a browser window, they go to that site. Hundreds and hundreds of workers, thousands and thousands of times a day, every single connection going out on one single IP address, resulting in exactly one unique page view, per day.
Re:Classic (Score:4, Funny)
I was told it wears out the computer (Score:4, Funny)
I've been told on many occasions that turning it on and off, and heating & cooling, flexes the motherboard and will lead to premature failure. Also, hard drives spinning up and down all the time moves the magnetic domains "outward" and so your data all accumulates near the outer edge of the disk and the head has a tougher and tougher time reading it all in. Also turning on and off the monitor makes the colors become less bright, so after a few years all you see are "fall" colours like yellows, reds, and oranges... eventually... it only shows white (the screen equivalent of "winter")
If you try to type something on your keyboard when your computer is off, the bits accumulate in the cord (that's why the old keyboard cables were always coiled... the bits were bigger back then so the coiling resulted in more space for the bits to accumulate) and eventually if you keep typing over the years with your computer off (or if your cat walks on the keyboard even) the cord will fail, probably at the back of your PC and all the bits will flow out on the ground and so your password can be read by hackers with laser beams such as those found in your CD or DVD drive.
Re:Remote Access ... (Score:1, Funny)
A: Mascarpone cheese is actually a form of cream.
Re:IT is a customer service group (Score:5, Funny)
I suppose. Really though I was just shocked that 11% of IT managers stated they "hate the Earth" as their reason for not powering down...
Re:IT is a customer service group (Score:5, Funny)
In that case, the resignation can wait until tomorrow morning.
Re:IT is a customer service group (Score:5, Funny)
Reminds me of a joke!
A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts: "Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?"
The man below says: "Yes you're in a hot air balloon, hovering 30 feet above this field."
"You must work in Information Technology," says the balloonist.
"I do," replies the man. "How did you know?"
"Well," says the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but it's of no use to anyone."
The man below says, "You must work in business as a manager." "I do," replies the balloonist, "but how did you know?"
"Well," says the man, "you don't know where you are or where you are going, but you expect me to be able to help. You're in the same position you were before we met but now it's my fault."
Re:Absolutely not. (Score:1, Funny)
(Besides, if I didn't hate the users, what excuse would I have for keeping a bat under my desk to threaten the users with?)
Could it be because you're mean?
Re:I've seen this first hand (Score:3, Funny)
Recent studies have shown that people waste approximately 20% of their time in the office just screwing around.
I need to find a better place to work.
Re:I've seen this first hand (Score:3, Funny)
Well, I think it's time you plan a game of musical chairs...
Better yet, get them all into a conference room, then walk in and calming explain "I've talked with the CEO and one of you is going to get let go so we can keep wasting energy on your screensaver, what's cool is that you all get to decide which one of you goes." Then look at the clock and say "I'll be back in an hour, and if there's no decision, the CEO will pick two of you to fire."
Re:IT is a customer service group (Score:2, Funny)
Pilot and Copilot in a plane are lost in the clouds. They drop down and see a building and can see the people inside.
They write on a piece of paper and ask "Where are we?".
They circle around the building and see a piece of paper on the building window with the message " Your in an airplane."
The pilot turns to the copilot and tells him to return to altitude and turn to 165.
The copilot asks him how he knows where they are.
The pilot replies "We're in Redmond, Washington and that's the Microsoft headquarters."
" I could tell because their answer was technically correct, but it was of no use to us."